Abstract: Botanical ingredients are interesting for their unique and complementary chemical diversities yet they are criticized for these very traits, which make quality assurance, reproducibility and good phytochemical characterization—required for successful high throughput screening, difficult. This article discusses these challenges as well as the benefits of large-scale screenings of botanical extracts that are currently used or developed for cosmetic product development.

Until recently, the development of a botanical ingredient for cosmetic use has been a long and tedious process. This was typically initialized by defining the mechanism of action, which is sometimes based on the interactions of users with plants, i.e., ethnobotanical influences, including diverse popular and cultural traditions; in addition to determining the endpoints to be evaluated to screen the ingredient for performance; and searching the available literature to identify natural sources for some molecules that already have been described as having effects on those endpoints. After the initial theoretical prospecting using literature or popular knowledge, the development process of the botanical ingredient finally begins.

Botanical ingredients are interesting for their unique and complementary chemical diversities yet they are criticized for these very traits, which make quality assurance, reproducibility and good phytochemical characterization—required for successful high throughput screening, difficult. This article discusses these challenges as well as the benefits of large-scale screenings of botanical extracts that are currently used or developed for cosmetic product development.